Casein powder.



No. 682,549. Patented Sept. ID, l90l.

J. A. JUST.

GASEIN POWDER.

(Application filed Jan. 14, 1901.)

(No Model.)

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN A. JUST, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

CASEIN POWDER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 682,549, dated September 10, 1901.

Original application filed January 13, 1898, Serial No. 666,496. Divided and this application filed January 14, 1901. Serial No. 43,111. (No specimens.)

T0 (0Z5 whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN A. JUST, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Casein Powder, of which the following is a specification, this application being a division of my application filed January 13, 1898, Serial No. 666,496.

My invention relates to a dry soluble casein product produced from the casein of milk.

The object of my invention is to produce a casein product which is very light and perfectly soluble in water and which has other desirable properties.

Heretofore soluble casein powders have been produced from casein solutions by various methods, all of which are complicated and expensive-for instance, by evaporating the solution in cacao, precipitating the soluble casein by absolute alcohol,and drying and grinding the powder; also, by drying the solution in a current of carbon dioxid. Casein solutions made in the well-known wayfor instance, by means of sodium bicarbonate are of a sticky or gummy nature and become discolored and more or less decomposed when heated to the boiling point, or thereabout, in a body. Hence such solutions have been evaporated in cacao, which is a very slow and unsatisfactory method. The soluble casein powders heretofore produced have been comparatively heavy and dense and of apulverulent or granular and gritty nature, which causes such powders to pack closely in water, -whereby the solubility and digestibility of these powders is impaired and their use as foods or ingredients of food preparations is interfered with.

I have discovered that by drying a casein solution in a thin film at a temperature which is sufficiently high to cause an almost instantaneous expulsion of the free water contained in the solution a casein product is produced which differs materially from the prior existing casein powders in physical properties and probably also in the percentage of combined .water which it contains.

In practicing my invention a casein solution is formed from milk casein in any suitable way-'-for instance, by dissolving casein renheit.

in a watery solution of bicarbonate of soda. This solution is then dried in a thin film upon a surface which is heated to such a high temperature that the heat acting upon the thin film of the solution expelsthe free water 0011- tained therein very quickly, almost instantaneously. This method of drying effectually dries the film without affecting the color of the product or causing any decomposition or other undesirable change in the casein. This method of drying can be carried 011 successfully under atmospheric pressure at a temperature of from 212 to 220 Fahrenheit on any suitable or well-known drying apparatus having a rotary steam-heated surface, upon which the solution is distributed in a thin fil m.

The accompanying drawing is a vertical section illustrating the general features of such a drying apparatus which can be used for practicing this process.

A represents the receptacle for the casein solution. B is a hollow cylinder which dips with the lower portion of its peripheral face into the solution in the receptacle A. This cylinder is heated by steam so that its face has a temperature of from 212 to 220 Fah The cylinder rotates and carries a thin film of the solution upwardly on its ascending side.

0 is a scraper arranged on the descending side of'the cylinder for removing the dried material from the peripheral face thereof. I

The casein product produced by this method is a White practically tasteless and odorless substance, somewhat crystalline in appearance and of an extremely light, loose, flufiy, or highly-porous structure. ten times lighter than the same bulk of water. It does not pack closely under moderate pressure, but is resilient and retains its fiuffy character. It dissolves readilyin water,forn1- ing a slightly opalescent solution. There is no coagulating on boiling. On addition of hydrochloric acid the casein is precipitated from such a solution in the form of a soft curd, which is remarkably digestible in fluid pepsin. By reason of its fluffy character and large bulk a comparatively small proportion of this casein product can be readily and thoroughly mixed with other ingredients in It is from six to ICO which are insoluble in cold Water, the same less substance, somewhat crystalline in appearance, of a loose, fluiify and highly-porous structure, much lighter than Water, dissolving readily and completely in cold Water and forming therewith a permanent and uniform opalescent solution,substantially as set forth.

WVitness my hand this 11th day of January, 1901.

JOHN A. JUST.

lNitnesses:

EDWARD WILHELM, S. DAVIS.

being a White, practically tasteless and odor- 

